Questionnaire...

• These are the questions we asked for the questionnaire, the questionnaire helped us develop our production ideas becuase we got an insight into our target audiences preferences and also what they knew about our chosen genre.

• Are you Male or Female?

• Can you name a psychological thriller genre film?

• What mood would you expect to be created in the trailer of a psychological thriller?

• What age rating would you expect from a psychological thriller?

• What would you say is the best location for a psychological thriller film to be set?

Audience Theories....

Hypodermic Needle Effect-
The Hypodermic Needle theory suggests that the mass media has a direct influence on their audience, because the media is a big industry it also connotes that the effect it has on the audience is immediate and powerful. The Hypodermic Needle theory is the theory that believes that what the audience consume from the media are what the media want them to believe. Ideologies from media producers may be included in these products therefore if this effect works on the audience they will believe anything that the media portray. It is believed that the theory was named the 'Hypodermic Needle' because the media is somewhat injected into them therefore they believe what they consume.

Two Step Flow-
The Two Step Flow theory which is also known as the 'Multistep Flow Model' is a theory which believes that the audience make a judgement on the media product based on the opinions of the opinion leaders that influence the media. Opinions leaders are the people who have primarily consumed media texts and passed of their opinions to opinion followers who are general members of the public.

Uses & Gratifications-

Uses & Gratifications theory is the theory based on understanding mass media and media communication. This theory suggest that media consumers try and discover media texts that will meet a specific need but will also enhance knowledge, social interactions and diversion. it also suggest that media consumers play a role in interpreting and intergrating media into their own lives. The theory believes that people use the media to meet a particular gratifications, this therefore connotes that the media complete against other information sources for the purpose of the media consumers gratifications.

Reception Analysis- 
This approach to textual analysis focuses on the scope for "negotiation" and "opposition" on the part of the audience. This means that a "text"—be it a book, movie, or other creative work—is not simply passively accepted by the audience, but that the reader / viewer interprets the meanings of the text based on their individual cultural background and life experiences. In essence, the meaning of a text is not inherent within the text itself, but is created within the relationship between the text and the reader.

References-
http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/Hypodermic_Needle_Theory.doc/ - Accessed on 10/12/2011

http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevkeyconcepts/alevelkeycon.php?pageID=audience - Accessed on 11/12/2011

http://www.slideshare.net/cianel/2-step-flow-theory-presentation - Accessed on 11/12/2011

Three Act Structure...

Act One:

It starts off blurred and focuses properly as it zooms into young David’s (Thomas Knight) face whilst he is working on his science project. He is struggling to work as he keeps having thoughts of weird & terrible events in his life, these will be shown as flashbacks. These flashbacks will represent the abuse that David suffered as a child, and will show his parents arguing, fighting, crying and the slamming of doors will give the audience an insight into David’s mind. It will also give the audience a bit of knowledge into what he had been through. He will then leaves the room for some air and time to think- this will be a medium shot.

Act Two:

The second scene will show a series of clips which build up a montage to signify David growing through time. The trailer goes from black and white to colour which will indicate change in time. The next shot is where David is sat on an empty bus, and see's himself walking past, this will be a point of view shot-reverse-shot of David on the bus and himself walking past the bus- the two personalities collide, and come together in a clever transaction. The next shot will be a medium shot of David walking to the park which will follow a shot-reverse-shot of him walking towards isolated bench. The sense of being alone and vulnerability needs to be indicated, so the shot of the park late at night will give of a lonely vibe. A long shot will then show a girl walking a dog in the park which will be followed by a close up shot showing them both talking. 

Act Three:



In this section, we will show the effect of what David went through as a child, as his anger and frustration begins to show through his strange behaviour. This act is going to be very upbeat with a fast tempo of shots, aswell as music to set the scene, ensuring suspence fpr the audience. There will be flashing images to show confusion and the mental aspect of the film. The final shot of this act will be a shot of david looking into the mirror, he see's his younger self in the mirror as he turns to leave the reflection stays the same, it fades into a black out, with end credits. We will do this to show David's state of mind and split personality as well as insuring interest from the audience.  

Audience Research...

Quantitative research involves numbers and measuring amounts and how much research you have received. The results of quantitative research are more numeric rather then in detail. This is becuase quantitative research would be research that may have been gathered by questionnaires- were close questions have been used therefore not exploring the feelings and attitudes. Quantitative research is usually sampled with a large number people and is frequently collected using questionnairs this may be because they are quick and can be distributed to a large audience.

Qualitative research involves gathering data that may not be easy to measure in terms of quantity this is because it is more in depth and tends to explore the feelings and attitudes of the people who are part of the research. Qualitative research is usually sample by a small number of people who may not be representitive however, they fulfill a given quota.

Simple Random Sample- Give everyone a number and then research is selected using a random number generator.

Systematic Random Sample- This is when everyone is assigned a number and depending on how much research you would like every nth number is selected.

Stratified Random Sample- people are put into groups then a group of people are chosen to use depending on age, sex, ethnicity, disability etc.

References-
http://www.snapsurveys.com/techadvqualquant.shtml - Accessed on 14/11/2011

http://www.quantitativeresearch.org.uk/ - Accessed on 15/11/2011

Audience Analysis

Age:

• The age range for our film is 15-25 the reason for this being the characters in the film are of a similar age so therefore it can possibly be relatable the issues show in the film and allow them to grow feelings towards the characters and understand there emotions.
• While trying to decide the age range for our film, we watched a few film trailers on YouTube to see what films were similar to ours, we found Orphan.

Ethnicity:

• Our trailer includes Caucasian cast but it will appeal to to a wide range of ethnic groups as many mainstream productions continue to sideline mainstream talent but dont seem to suffer comercially for this.

Gender:

• The lead role is a hetrosexual male named David. He eventually turns into a killer and is quite violent so he would appeal to males rather than females. This is because violence is related more to men then it is women therefore our production would be more effective if a male person was our main character.

Nationality/ Religion:

• Our characters are from the West Midlands, Birmingham, the location isnt a hugely important factor for our film. The fact that the film is produced by english students, may suggest that the film would only be popular with a younger english audience.

Draft Treatment...

Davis is 11 he’s never been very popular and likes to keep himself to himself other kids at school would tease him for the simple fact that he is different, they would also tease him about the past of parents he wouldn’t speak to anyone and wouldn’t leave his bedroom except for when he had to go to school. His parents would shout at him and ask him why he couldn’t be normal like the other kids they would often beat him whilst under the heavy influence of alcohol and wouldn’t sometimes leave him on his own to fend for himself. He lived in a world were violence, drinking, abuse, shouting and the slamming of doors was a regular occurrence- he had nobody but himself. Davids parents passed away when he was 13 years old in a traffic accident, it is believed that they were both highly under the influence of drugs and alcohol. David didn’t have any family that he knew of therefore he was sent to an orphanage where his life took a drastic turn.

It started on a cold winter night, David was sitting in his room working on a science project, but how could he concentrate- with everything happening? All he could hear was screaming and shouting coming from downstairs so he decided to go for a walk to clear his head and get some space. As he was walked over to a isolated bench he wondered if anyone would ever befriend him or even take a little time to ask him if he was alright, suddenly he hears footsteps coming towards him, a middle aged man was walking his dog and the dog wondered towards David, conversation struck between the man and David which was regretted shortly after by the man 

Moodboard...

This is our moodboard, we tried to incorprate our main ideas for our trailer by adding pictures and words which are related to the idea we had in mind as well as the genre. A split personality is a mental disorder which is experienced by our main character therefore there are pictures of two people, and also there are two different eyes on one face- this suggests the disorder as well as signifying the different moods which is experienced by the same person, therefore highlighting his unstable mental state.

Also the main feature on the moodboard is the picture directly in the middle- we tried to give our main ideas around this feature. Adding cut-out newspaper words like 'Flashback', 'Virtual Reality', 'Control', and 'A sence of clarity' helps us portray the kind of genre we want and the main ideas of our trailer. These cut-out words also link in with the idea we had for our plot, becuase our main character has a mental disorder words like 'Virtual Reality' relate to his state of mind.

We also used reflecting materials on the mood board, this is to emphasize the idea of someone who has a split personality which is the personality of our main character- we also used rhetorical questions on the mood board especially around the reflective images- this is to create effect and brings forward our genre we also had an idea for the trailer in relation to relfections and mirrors.

Audience Presentation...

This was made for a presentation I did In media, I specifically chose this key concept becuase I wanted develop my knowledge in it. My research on this key concept highlighted the importance of an audience and what they mean to production companies. Everything in relation to media texts is focused around the audience therefore when we developing our ideas we wanted to have a clear understanding to who our audience are, then we could further research our target audience by doing questionnaires to get an idea of what they want and expect from our chosen genre.

Genre Codes & Conventions Research-Inception

Inception-
Dom Cobb who is played by Leonardo Di Caprio is a skilled theif but not for materialistic things, he has mastered the exteremely dangerous art of 'extraction' where he can steal valuable secrets from the subconscious whilst someone is dreaming- this is thought to be when the mind is most vulrenable, after some time Cobb loses everything and is forced to do one final mission for redemption.
Codes and Conventions-
The trailer starts off with Leonardo Di Caprio who plays Dom Cobb talking over the trailer, he is almost introducing his character and gives a little insight in what the plot is going to be about. Also the music plays a significant part in setting a tone for the movie as the trailer progresses the music gets louder as well as the tempo getting faster. This plays well in relation to the footage on screen becuase it aids in adding mystery as well as suspence in the trailer.

Genre Codes and Conventions Research- Shutter Island

Shutter Island: Shutter Island is a 2010 psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese. it is about a U.S Marshall Edward "Teddy" Daniels who is played by Leonardo DiCaprio and his partner Chuck Aule who is played by Mark Ruffalo, they are investigating the disappearnce os Rachel Solando, the pateint unexpectedly vanished from a locked room and was institutionalised after drowning her three children.

Codes & Conventions:
This trailer has been put together very well, the codes and conventions that have a knock on effect of how it is presented to the audience. The quick cuts and music are parallel to one another, the quick cuts shows intertesting parts of the movie but they dont show enough therefore portraying mystery which links back to the genre. Also the parrallel sound which is used throughout the trailer is very effective from points at 1:53 to 2:04 the music increases from calm and composed to very harsh and rapid, notice how the screen shots and gets faster and the music gets louder this has an impact on the audience because of quick increase of the music.

Genre Codes and Conventions Research- Black Swan

Black Swan:
Black Swan is a 2010 American pyschological thriller film, it is directed by Darren Aronofsky, and it stars Natalie Portman, vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis. The plot is based around a production of Tchaikovsky's  Swan Lake ballet by a prestigious New York City company. The ballerina has two sides to her, an innocent White Swan and the sensual Black Swan. One of the ballerinas which is Nina fits perfectley for the white swan part, while Lily the other dancer matches the black swan role. when they both compete- Nina finds a dark side to herself
Codes & Conventions:
The music isnt the first thing you notice when watching this trailer becuase at the start of the trailer there is also a voice over the music. It starts of very mellow and as the trailer proceeds it gets more intense and loud, the amount of instruments used also increases throughout the trailer. Although its not an element that is the main focus it plays a part in setting a mood and tone for the trailer, when its more mellow it connotes mystery and suspence whereas when its more louder and in-depth it signifies panic and horror. The trailer begins in a dark room, because it is dark it links in with the genre as the dark is associated with negatives and danger.

Psychological Thriller...

A psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the more wider range of thriller and horror genres, this genre includes elements of mystery and suspence. As it is a psychological thriller our trailer will incorprate the processes of the mind of someone who suffers from a mental disorder. We want our trailer to be unique as well as original and although it will include elements of mystery it should also have a strong structure and a logical coherence.

An example of psychological thriller genre films are;

                                                                                                                                                

These movies are all under the psychological thriller sub-genre, watching the trailer to these movies I noticed that they all included simular conventions, the music starts of slow and as the trailers progress the tempo gets more upbeat and fast paced. This works very well with a psychological thriller becuase it adds mystery and suspence to the trailer and sets a tone on what the movie will be like.

For the ancillary task we are going to make a poster for our trailer, looking at posters of psychological thrillers the majority of them use dark colours as backgrounds and then quite bold writing for the title, when making our poster for the ancillary task I think using a dark background will work very well becuase It will look really effective and also relate to our psychological thriller genre.

References-

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/psychological+thriller - Accessed on 18/09/2011

So.,what have you got in mind..?

We've come together and decided that we want to create a psychological thriller genre trailer, this is becuase we think that we can create something quite interesting, different and original using this genre as a basis.

As its a thriller genre we will be including elements of mystery and suspence, however, although we will be including these elements we dont want the trailer to be so mysterious that it doesnt have a logical coherence therefore we will make the trailer so it has a strong formation and strucure as well as mystery and suspence.

My Group...

The groups have now been decided , and our group consists of the following people:

Nasema Khanum (ME!)
Matthew Cartwright
Ryan Knight

Groups...

At the moment the groups for the main task havn't been chosen yet, we will be choosing our groups within the next few days, will keep you posted!!